English

self-will

The quality of being willful and ignoring opposition.

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    Origin

    From Middle English self-wil, self-wille, from Old English sylfwill, selfwill, selfwille (“self-will”), from Proto-West Germanic *selbawilljō, from Proto-Germanic *selbawiljô (“self-will”), equivalent to self- + will. Cognate with Old High German selbwillo, selpwillo, Old Norse sjalfvili.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishself-wil
      • inheritedOld Englishsylfwill
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*selbawilljō
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*selbawiljô “self-will”
    • prefixEnglishself- “of, by, in or with oneself or itself”
      • inheritedMiddle Englishself-
        • inheritedOld Englishself-
    • surface analysisEnglishwill “Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when u…”

    Related: Old High German selbwillo, Old Norse sjalfvili

    Sources